Faith Matters: The Church Program

By DW.COM | Deutsche Welle

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What people build on, what gives them support and the values they hold: For many, that is a question of faith. Every first Sunday of the month DW's monthly feature on religion gives insights into matters of faith.

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CleanVideoFaith Matters - Priests in the Party District - Dominicans in Downtown Dusseldorf

Those looking for a quiet retreat are unlikely to find it in Dusseldorf’s Dominican monastery. The monks there live in the heart of the city’s nightlife district. Their evening prayers are accompanied by drunken bawling from the street. Revelers and homeless people are a permanent challenge. How has this community of eight priests come to terms with their very unusual monastic environment?

CleanVideoFaith Matters - goRome! The International Pilgrimage of Altar Servers

"Mega, awesome, cool!" That was twelve-year-old Linus’s comment. He is one of 60,000 Catholic altar servers from across the world who made the pilgrimage to Rome this year to see the pope. With the Eternal City sweltering in temperatures around 40 degrees Celsius this summer it wasn’t always "cool." But nothing could stop these kids.

CleanVideoFaith Matters - Mediaeval Beauty - The World of Uta of Naumburg

Finally declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Naumburg Cathedral is one of Germany’s finest churches - significant not only for its architectural splendor but because it contains a portrait of one of the great beauties of the Middle Ages: Margravine Uta von Ballenstedt. The statue was carved by a mediaeval stone sculptor who, in spite of his fame, is known to history only as the Naumburg Master.

A thousand years ago, the Benedictine abbey on the island of Reichenau was a center of scholarship. The monks created some of the finest illuminated manuscripts ever produced. But in the early 19th century, the religious community was expelled. In spite of secularisation, the islanders struggled to preserve the monks’ legacy and today Reichenau is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Moravian Church is one of the oldest Protestant denominations. Since the eighteenth century it has been sending missionaries to many parts of the world. In the former Dutch colony of Suriname, on the northeast coast of South America, the church is especially strong. Surinamese Moravians will be organizing the World Day of Prayer in March 2018.

The Lutheran School in Berlin doesn’t simply follow a curriculum; it is committed to Christian values. In classes called "Responsibility" and "Challenge," the students at ESBZ learn to act on their own initiative and to take responsibility for their own lives and for society.

Four Cistercian monks from Austria are bringing monastic life back to Neuzelle in the eastern German state of Brandenburg. The town's name comes from the Nova Cella abbey that was founded here in 1268. The building hasn't been used as a monastery for centuries, but the monks hope to restore its role as a spiritual center of Catholicism.

CleanVideoFaith Matters - Women in the Driving Seat - Revolution at the Vatican

A woman is running the Vatican Museums for the first time in their 500-year history. One year ago, Pope Francis appointed the 56-year-old Italian art historian, Barbara Jatta, to manage the papal collections, which contain a staggering quarter-million objects and attract some six million visitors each year.

The internationally acclaimed Berlin Radio Choir has joined forces with American theater director and visual artist Robert Wilson for a production that marries Martin Luther’s writings and translations with the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. Wilson’s image theater conjures both anxiety and hope in a timeless statement that places Luther among the great thinkers of history.

As the Lutheran World Federation celebrates 500 years of Protestantism, Namibians remember a grim chapter of their history. Missionaries set sail for the future German colony of South West Africa in 1840 fired with the ideals of the Reformation. But their message of humble service prepared the way for economic exploitation - and a conflict that ended in genocide.

Most Russian Lutherans are ethnic Germans. Although services are now conducted in Russian, the "Our Father” is still prayed in the language of Luther. The Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Russia has some 40,000 members and is headed by 34-year-old Dietrich Brauer, the youngest archbishop in the Lutheran World Federation.

CleanVideoFaith Matters - In the Spirit of Luther - The Francke Foundations

Some 300 years ago, the Lutheran pastor August Hermann Francke founded a charity school in Halle-on-the-Saale, about 200 kilometers southwest of Berlin. Today that foundation is an impressive complex of institutions - a veritable town within a town, providing accommodation and employment for more than 4,000 people.

Lourdes in southwest France is one of the most popular pilgrimage destinations in the world. In May each year, thousands of military personnel from almost 50 countries flock to this Marian shrine. The pilgrims in uniform pray and sing - but they also find time to relax and make friends.

CleanVideoFaith Matters - 500 Years After Luther - Reformation on the Road

Seventeen 17 meters long and weighing 33 tons, a "storymobile” will travel around Europe to mark the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. Project leader Johannes Göring and his crew of 15 volunteers will work with local Protestant communities to revive the spirit of the Reformation -- a major task at a time when church attendance is down across Europe.

CleanVideoFaith Matters - Brother Severin and the Lost Music of the Chiquitanos

When Severin Parzinger graduated from high school in 2010, he volunteered for a year of community service with the Divine Word Missionaries in Bolivia. An enthusiastic musician, Parzinger took an audio recorder with him and started notating the music of the Chiquitanos. Now he has become a Divine Word missionary himself and has returned to Bolivia to continue his work.

Five friends have developed a satirical YouTube channel. Their videos deal with controversial social issues: Islam and xenophobia. With the world focusing on the differences between religions, they want to throw fresh light on the issues -- with humor.

Anba Damian may be the head of the Coptic Church in Germany — but the bishop is remarkably down-to-earth. Despite the many challenges of his job, he still finds time for a game of football. His seat is in a former Cistercian monastery in western Germany.

CleanVideoFaith Matters - The Archbishop: A German Clergywoman in Sweden

October 31, 2016, saw a special event in the Swedish city of Malmö. The Protestant and Catholic churches jointly celebrated the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. Pope Francis was in attendance, and his host was the head of the Church of Sweden, Archbishop Antje Jackelén.